Nigeria to spend $10billion on Power annually

Nigeria expects an annual private sector investment of about $10 Billion in the country’s power sector over the next ten years, following the total privatization of power generation and distribution in Nigeria.

This was disclosed by President Goodluck Jonathan, Wednesday while speaking at the World Economic Forum, in Cape Town.

Speaking at the Forum which opened today in the South African city, President Jonathan said that realizing that government alone cannot build the infrastructure that the country needs, the Federal Government has completed the biggest transfer of power assets in Africa to private investors.

The President said that to speedily overcome the infrastructural deficit that currently limits the pace of their economic development, Nigeria and other African countries must find innovative ways of funding essential infrastructure in areas  such as power supply, energy and  communications.

Noting that without a common framework as a basis for collaboration little progress will be made in the development of infrastructure across Africa, President Jonathan commended the African Union Commission, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the African Development Bank and the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) for establishing the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA).

The President said that he was delighted that PIDA will build on plans established under previous initiatives such as the NEPAD Medium to Long Term Strategic Framework and the African Union Infrastructure Master Plans.

He said that Nigeria will continue to support the development of continent wide infrastructure such as the Nigeria-Algeria Gas Pipeline Project and the Lagos-Abidjan Highway Project.

----Elizabeth Embu, Daily Times Nigeria, May 8, 2013